Redhook Will Open a Brewpub on Capitol Hill

The state's biggest brewery goes small on Pike Street.

Redhook has been dropping hints for a while about opening a brewpub in Seattle, about returning to the city where it first set up shop in 1981 in a former transmission shop in Ballard. The money was on a location in that part of town, especially after this winky-eyed blog post announcing the release of an imperial IPA called Big Ballard.

Nope! Turns out the state's largest brewery, which moved its operations to Woodinville in 1994, will set up shop in the newly remade/preserved Pike Motorworks building at 714 E Pike. While Redhook standards like ESB will be pouring here, a 10-barrel system will produce small-batch beers available only at the pub, focusing particularly on collaborations with other Seattle entities like Caffe Vita, which teamed up with Redhook for its most recent double black coffee stout.

It's hard to avoid comparisons to the Starbucks Reserve roastery, and not just because it's five blocks down the street. Both are hometown companies that grew into big brands, now circling back to create these small-scale settings and small-scale products. No word on whether the Redhook brewpub will have a similar midcentury-meets-Willy Wonka interior design...sadly, probably not.

The brewpub will open in fall 2016, the company's 35th anniversary.

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